Onofua Orezimena Leonard, popularly known as Mena or Orezi is a Product and Motion Designer. He is a graduate of Electrical Electronics Engineering with distinction from Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, Ondo State in southwestern Nigeria.
Orezi began as a graphic designer, but in 2019, he transitioned into product and corporate design as a Junior Designer, and within less than a year he was promoted to Lead Designer due to the opportunity provided by the company and his undying determination to continually improve.
While in touch with him, he revealed that LifeBank is one of the most well-known companies with which he has worked as a designer, reiterating that other projects he has worked on as a freelancer and contract employee gave him the opportunity to directly contribute to the development of products in a variety of areas, including health, e-commerce, blockchain, and productivity.
When being asked about his source of inspiration, he explained that it comes from several sources.
“My place of unlimited inspiration is when I am bathing. The ideas just keep flowing so that I have to leave the bathroom soaked and straight to my notepad to jot them down. I am inspired by the daily struggle of Nigerians, every day I look into people’s lives, and think of how to help.”
Explaining further, he revealed that he is currently working on a telemedicine platform which he referred to as healthbyproxy to aid patients, aiming to eliminate old digital system of communication.
“Currently, I’m working on a telemedicine platform I call healthbyproxy, where patients can book an appointment with their doctors online instead of travelling to cities such as Lagos and some other cities to see them. The old method can be eliminated in a digital system with a phone call or video call, where doctors can discuss medications remotely and prescribe drugs from the comfort of their homes.”
He also revealed that he usually visits online resources like dribbble, behance, medium and other platforms to find inspirations.
Orezi had earlier worked on different projects. He has worked on what he called QUIP and Agrifics, which he claimed are both involved in health care and agriculture e-commerce.
“In the midst of breakout of covid-19, we created the QUIP platform to keep track of medical equipment, since our inventory system had failed, and we had no data about hospital equipment like respirators and ventilators, as well as other important equipment. As part of the lifebank project, where I was the design lead, we called hospitals in our database and listed the number of equipment and linked them to hospitals and individuals who needed them in order to rent from those hospitals that had them and those that were not using them. As a result, people were saved while hospitals gained revenue from the equipment. Being a change agent in this way was one of my ways of actively participating during the pandemic.”
Explaining how he works cross-functionally with developers, copywriters, project managers, he related that the key to launching a project on time is to have a devoted team that does not require micromanagement.
Speaking about his creative process, he said the first step in fixing a problem is to comprehend it, which can come through self-discovery. He said: “Following that, I generate ideas, moodboards, and wireframes from my research, and sometimes conduct research to identify the best possible solution for the identified problem.”
“After that, I proceed to present all the research and thought processes I have done visually in forms, colors, and symbols. The basic concept of my solution is to design it.”
He said testing occurs at several levels after the design has been completed, with iterations, evaluation, and refining almost always leading to a redesign, emphasizing that his development team produces the document as soon as he is satisfied, then this process is repeated as many times as necessary.
“…and if the design is not approved for development that is when we would need iterations… handover is done to the development team as soon as a satisfactory design is made by both clients and myself.”
When being asked about his dream job, he said “fundamentally, I don’t want to be anywhere where I don’t solve problems. Nevertheless, I would love to work in a health technology system or a blockchain system” reiterating that in Nigeria, “I can play a significant role in managing change.”
“Companies outside Nigeria I’ll love to work with us are Google, Microsoft and Tesla,” he said.
Educator, writer and legal researcher at Alafarika for Studies and Consultancy.